


A Slice of Apple Pie

by misura



Category: Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
Genre: Established Relationship, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 18:16:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1097104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dinner at the palace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Slice of Apple Pie

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lizimajig](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizimajig/gifts).



> I'd probably be writing threesome fic even if canon _had_ settled the triangle, but I'm very glad that it hasn't done so (yet), since that lets me pretend this might actually happen.
> 
> written by way of a treat.

Dessert is a golden-crusted apple pie, and that's when Snow knows she's in trouble.

It's a bit of a surprise, in some ways - they've been talking about the diplomatic mission to the South for close to a week now, and thus far, William's always been the one to take her side against Eric. She's not sure what has happened today to change his mind.

(Eric wouldn't make his point with apple pie. He's the direct one, the one who beats people up when they deserve it, after which she and William will smooth things over again.)

"Apple pie," Eric says, because he's not an idiot. He glances at William.

William smiles. He's teased her a lot as a child, and he teases her even more now that she's an adult. She supposes he's entitled to claim the virtue of patience, given that he's waited for her for nearly a decade, but it gets annoying sometimes. It takes a lot of work, these days, to tease him back. It's probably a good thing she's got Eric to help her with that.

"Snow's favorite," William says, which is such a blatant lie it's a wonder he doesn't choke on it.

"No, it's not," she says. She hears herself sounding like a ten-year old. She doesn't like it.

Eric's gaze slides from her to William, and back again. They'll probably never make a diplomat out of Eric, or even a general, but they'll always be able to rely on Eric doing the things that need doing.

People find it very easy to slip into the habit of underestimating Eric. It helps that he's not of the blood; he's just a huntsman. (He's so very much _not_ just a huntsman. But then, nobody is, when you take the time to get to know them. Snow isn't _just_ a Queen, either.)

"I used to steal apples for her," William tells Eric, and this - this is new.

It is known to all of them that William has known Snow the longest. It is agreed that this does not make his position any different from Eric's.

They may disagree among each other, and they may argue, but some things are not to be argued with. Snow's word (which is law); Eric's know-how in the bedroom (which comes from having been married); William's growing up with her.

"It wasn't stealing," she says. She hopes that the next thing out of his mouth will be something she can agree with, although she's willing to settle for a question she can answer. "They were the King's trees."

They're the Queen's trees now. She hasn't eaten an apple since Ravenna tried to murder her with one.

Possibly, that's something she should work on overcoming, but then, there are a lot of things that require her attention, and most of them are a lot more important than an aversion to a certain kind of fruit. (Some of them are more than a lot more important. Those are the ones that keep her up at night, working until William loses patience and gets Eric to drag her to bed to get some sleep.)

"I nearly broke my neck for you," William says.

She's not unaware of the debts she owes him, the debts she owes both of them. The debts she owes to all of them, the living and the dead. Even Finn, and even Ravenna.

If she has trouble sleeping, it's not always because she stays up too late, working.

She doesn't think she owes William for having been unimpressed by a reckless young man. (Fond of, yes; impressed by, no.)

"And what does this have to do with pie?" Eric asks, and she wants to kiss him right now, except that he's the one who's been arguing with her all day, and loudly.

William's been the quiet one. She assumed that meant he was agreeing with her. It always had, before.

"Nothing," William says. "Take a slice. It's good." Implying he's already tasted it at least once.

Implying this is not some impulsive gesture. This, right here, is a challenge, a battle joined, and Snow has been tempered to always win her battles.

She's also been trained to pick her battlefields wisely. "Not for me, thank you. I'm full. And busy." A perfect excuse to retreat and regroup, if the necessity arises.

"You're always busy," Eric says, but he speaks without rancor. He knows she'll never be too busy not to forgive him when he decides that enough is enough.

William looks at her as he eats his pie. It might have been a plate of mashed beets, for all the emotions he displays. Eric seems to be enjoying his pie, at least. She wonders if she could walk over to where he's sitting and kiss him, right now, and not choke.

"If you've got something to say, say it," she tells William.

Eric's eyebrows go up a bit. She's not sure if he thinks her tone is too severe, or not severe enough.

"I don't think you should be going anywhere by yourself," William says, and it's something Eric might have said. She's relieved, though; it's got nothing to do with the diplomatic mission.

"I don't think I have been going anywhere by myself for a very long time now," she says, even though it's not entirely true. The guards in front of her study are already there in the morning. The guards in front of her bedroom don't leave when she does.

"Sanctuary," Eric says, then frowns. "I thought that trip was postponed." Mercifully, he doesn't remind her she claimed to be too busy for five minutes of eating pie mere moments ago.

"It has been," she says. She's pushed it back three days. It seemed as good a reward as any for winning the argument about trying to get on friendlier terms with their Southern neighbors.

"You planned on going by yourself?" Eric's frown deepens, as if this is such a ridiculous idea that it gives him a headache.

She's fairly sure she's mentioned her intentions once or twice within his hearing. At the time, it seemed like a good idea not to phrase her plans in such a way that they might give rise to an argument.

Eric may never become a diplomat, but that doesn't keep him from being quite sneaky sometimes.

"Yes," she says. "I'll be perfectly safe." She hadn't been, last time, but that was then.

There's blood on her hands, now, and no Queen's guard hunting her.

(On reflection, there might be a Queen's guard hunting her. With the best of intentions, and under strict orders from their Captain, backed up by the authority of both King-Consorts.)

"Perhaps," Eric says, which is unlike him. Eric likes certainties, absolutes. "We'd miss you, though."

William blinks, once. "We would," he agrees. Almost as fast as if she's the one he's agreeing with.

"You already work so much - we hardly see you," Eric says, as if he's not the one kissing her into submission every evening when he feels the day has grown too long. "It's assuredly true that you deserve a little time away to catch your breath, but why take it all by yourself?"

"Do you find our company that tiresome?" William asks.

 _It's not your company; it's your arguments._ Snow feels a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. When they are in disagreement, William and Eric balance one another perfectly, with her in the middle, casting the final vote.

On the rare occasions that they are in agreement, on a matter she has not yet considered or given sufficient thought in order to make up her mind, they are a force that is very nearly irresistible.

"I still have some reports that need reading," she says, conceding the field without admitting defeat.

"They can wait," Eric says.

William doesn't blink this time. He merely nods. "If you insist, I could read them to you tomorrow morning. In bed."

Eric scowls. Snow remembers he's supposed to be out of her favor for calling her a fool this afternoon.

"Done," she says.


End file.
